Construction on the new research and development center that cancer test maker Exact Sciences Corp. announced Jan. 13 is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2022 and be completed by the end of 2024, Exact Sciences associate director of corporate affairs Scott Larrivee said.
Exact Sciences Corp. (Nasdaq: EXAS), one of the largest public companies based in Wisconsin, said it plans to invest an additional $350 million in Madison facilities and hire at least 1,300 more Wisconsin employees by 2025.
The planned Exact Sciences Research and Development Center of Excellence will be at 5501 Endeavor Lane in Madison, next to the company's corporate headquarters. Exact Sciences refers to this area in the University Research Park as its Innovation Campus.
J.H. Findorff & Son Inc., which has worked on several other Exact Sciences facilities in Madison, will be the contractor for the project. The architect is Madison's Potter Lawson Inc.
The new facility will support enhancements to the company's Cologuard at-home colorectal cancer test, as well as research relating to its goal of developing a test that would screen for multiple types of cancer at once. It's in the final approval stages with the city of Madison, Larrivee said.
Exact Sciences also is expanding existing lab and warehouse space at 1 Exact Lane and 650 Forward Drive in Madison, on its nearby Discovery Campus. That facility originally opened in 2019 and the company has since added an employee amenities building there.
The lab and warehouse expansion work is already underway and is expected to be completed by the end of 2022, Larrivee said. The project will equip the lab with automation technology to increase testing capacity and expand warehouse space to supply Exact Sciences production labs and the planned research center.
Exact Sciences' headquarters have been in Madison since 2009, when CEO and president Kevin Conroy signed on. Its original Madison facility, which it still occupies, is at 145 E. Badger Road.
The company has expanded its Madison footprint throughout the last decade. It has around 6,500 employees, about 3,500 of which are in the Madison area, Larrivee said.
In 2018, Exact Sciences broke ground on its current corporate headquarters building, Innovation One, at 5505 Endeavor Lane. It has at least two other facilities on its Innovation Campus, including a research facility at 501 Charmany Drive and a manufacturing facility at 441 Charmany Drive.
Exact Sciences also has some Madison facilities that it leases, Larrivee said.
